Local Lib-Dems call for urgent government action on moorland fires Date published: 25 May 2021
Councillor Howard Sykes
The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council, councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has written to the Conservative Government calling for a national ban on the sale of disposable barbecues.
They are often the cause of moorland fires.
Cllr Sykes has called for greater court punishments for those found guilty of negligently or wilfully setting fire to our moors.
He has written to the Secretary of State for the Environment, George Eustice MP, calling for action.
Cllr Sykes said: “Action is long overdue.
It was January 2, 1938 and hotel waitress Margaret Peggy Stewart had just given birth at Glasgow s Rottenrow Hospital. At the age of 28, unmarried and lowly paid Peggy must have wondered what the future held for her son who she had christened Ian Duncan Stewart. It was not a good time to be the mother of an illegitimate child. Society, in general, frowned on those who gave birth to children born out of wedlock.
READ MORE: To make matters worse the baby s father - a Glasgow newspaper reporter - had died three months earlier. Even if he had chosen to do so, there was no one to help Peggy support the baby.